Commutator brush control



Sept. 13, 1938 R Fou uEsET AL COMMUTATOR BRUSH CONTROL Original Filed June 5,: 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l //VV/V701QS 6 7700 0/ F0 up 025 (/61 0 PS 1 erfam 4 fiTOA /VEM" Se t. 13, 1938. R. FOUQUES ET AL 2,129,757

GOMMUTATOR BRUSH CONTROL Original Filed June 5, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 13, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE COMMUTATOR BRUSH CONTROL Raoul Fouques and Jacques Lenfant, Paris, France 4 Claims.

The present application is a division of application Serial No. 83,739, filed June 5, 1936.

The use of very low-power motors in transportable apparatus, such as clocks for example, has hitherto been attended with a certain number of drawbacks which have not been solved in a practical manner.

In effect, if an electrically wound transportable clock is considered, it is necessary, in order to be able to interest the public, on the one hand, that its space requirement shall be as small as possible and, on the other, that the electrical energy necessary for the winding operation shall be sufficiently low for the supply battery to last one or more years.

The conditions of space requirement lead to the adoption of a low-voltage battery and the conditions of life of the battery necessitate that the output of the winding current shall be of low intensity.

A clock should, above all, be of very certain operation. On the other hand, the starting and stopping of the winding motor can be obtained only by successive opening and closing of its supply circuit. It is therefore indispensable that this circuit-closing should take place without fail during several years without it being necessary to resort to frequent inspection of the mecha nism.

The low value of the voltage and of the intensity do not allow of employing in practice the closing of an ordinary contact for effecting the starting of the motor. In eifect, the presence of dust and the oxidation of the contacts as a consequence of the frequent breaking of the circuit have the result that at the end of a certain time of operation, when the contact is actuated, the circuit will no longer be closed or the contact resistance becomes such. that the electrical resistance of the circuit is too high for the motor to be able to start.

To these drawbacks are added those resulting from the use of fixed brushes associated with the motor. In effect, the motor being of very low power, the spring which supports the brush on the commutator will have to exert only a slight pressure; the result of this is that the dust deposited on the commutator and the brushes is sufficient to prevent the circuit of the motor from closing. On the other hand, the soiling of the brushes and the oxidation of the commutator introduce additional resistances which are sufficiently high to prevent the starting of the motor.

To avoid the insertion of a contact in the cir cuit of a motor, it has been proposed to eifect the opening and closing of the circuit of the motor by displacement of the brush or brushes. This solution has not given entire satisfaction. In effect, the drawbacks, already indicated, of the dust deposited on the commutator and the brushes as well as the oxidation of the brushes and the commutator still exist.

The present invention relates to a mode of execution and use of the brushes which surmounts all the drawbacks mentioned.

One of the features of the invention resides in the fact that the brushes come into engagement with the commutator by a sliding movement which causes, at the point of contact, the cleaning of the commutator and the brushes.

Another feature of the invention resides in the fact that the spacing of the brushes is less than the diameter of the commutator so as to increase the wiping surface of the brushes on the commutator at the moment of contacting.

Another feature of the invention resides in the fact that the brushes are of knife form, which allows of obtaining effective cleaning and of adopting a sufiicient pressure without introducing an excessive frictional resistance. This form of the brushes has, on the other hand, the eifect of suppressing the microphonic effect which is manifested with low voltages and prevents the electrical circuit from being completed.

The invention will be better understood by,

reference to the following more detailed description, given by way of non-limiting example, of the construction of a clock having a periodic winding system. comprising an electric motor in accordance with this invention, and tothe accompanying drawings, in which:-

Fig. 1 illustrates a complete rear View of the mechanism of the clock and of the periodic winding system. Only the members which are necessary for understanding the invention have been illustrated. Mereover, for the sake of clearness in the illustration, the rear plate supporting the members has been assumed to be removed.

Fig. 2 illustrates a sectional View of Fig. 1 along the line 4-4.

Fig. 3 is a front view of the assembly of the cylinder, starting member, winding wheel and driving wheel of the time mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the assembly of Fig. 3, the different members having been spaced in order to show their arrangement more clearly.

The operation of the periodic winding system will now be explained with reference to these figures.

It is seen that, in the position shown in the figures, the member 5 for starting the winding operation is engaged and driven by the pin 6 rigidly connected to the cylinder I. The said pin 6 also entrains the toothed Wheel 8 in gear with the usual clock mechanism, the details of which have not been illustrated. In this manner, therefore, the normal driving of the clock mechanism is obtained by the action of a spring 39 within or otherwise associated with the cylinder or barrel 1, which drives the mechanism through the pin 6, as has just been explained. The pin 6 will therefore effect a rotating movement about the axis of the cylinder in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. l (anti-clockwise as viewed in the figure). In the example illustrated, it has been assumed that the said pin travels a complete revolution in one hour.

The winding member 5, which can rotate freely about its axis, has two diametrically-opposed pins 9 and I0. This arrangement of the pins has been adopted in order to obtain winding every half hour. As a result of the member 5 being entrained by the pin 6, one of the pins 9, II! will engage every half hour with the starting and stopping lever II.

Assume, as has been illustrated in Fig. 1, that the pin 9 engages the extremity of the lever II. When the member 5 is further entrained by the pin 6, the pin 9 will displace the lever II, which pivots about the axis I2 and carries along the pawl I3, the pivot I4 of which is rigidly connected to the said lever I I. The pawl I3 is held against the ratchet wheel I5 by means of a spring I3I secured to a block I32 on the lever II. When the pin 9 has caused a certain displacement of the lever II, the pawl I3 leaves the tooth of the ratchet wheel I5 on which it rested, and falls into the following tooth. Shortly after this. action, the pin 9, continuing its rotary movement, releases the lever II which, under the action of the spring 2 I, returns to its initial position. During its return movement, the lever II carries along the pawl I3 which acts on the ratchet wheel I5, causing an anti-clockwise rotation of the said wheel corresponding to the advancement of one tooth.

Mounted rigidly on the same axis as the ratchet wheel I5 is a cam disc IE, on which bears the extremity of the arm II of a double-armed lever I1, I8 fulcrumed at 20. At the extremity of the second arm I8 is mounted an insulating member I9 supporting the two brushes 22 and 23 associated with the commutator 24 of the rotor 41 of an electric motor.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the Working ends of the brushes are L-shaped in cross-section and are arranged so that one edge of the L is adapted to engage the commutator. In the position illustrated in Fig. 1, the arm I! bears against a projection on the cam disc I6 and only the brush 22 is in engagement with the commutator 24. The supply circuit of the motor is open.

When, as has been explained, the ratchet wheel advances by one tooth under the action of the pawl I3, the cam disc I6 is also thereby entrained which causes the extremity of the lever arm II to enter a recess in the cam disc I6, under the action of the spring 46. This movement of the arm I! raises the arm I8 pivotally about its axis 20, causing an upward displacement of the brushes 22 and 23, so that the brush 23 comes into engagement with the commutator 24 and the rotor 41 of the electric motor is started by an electric current, from a supply battery or equivalent source, flowing through the flexible conductors 25 and 26 connected to the terminals 21 and 2B. The inductive flux necessary for the operation of the motor is furnished by the magnet 29 ending in the two pole pieces 30 and 3 I.

It will be noted that the brushes are positioned by sliding them across the commutator, which has a cleaning action, ensuring good electrical contact while preventing the introduction of additional contact resistances.

During its rotating movement, the rotor 41 drives the toothed Wheel 38, rotatably mounted on the shaft 50, for winding the spring 39, through the intermediate gear wheels 32 to 31. On the wheel 38 are mounted two diametrically-opposed pins 40 and II. After a period of Winding of the spring corresponding to about half an hour of operation of the clock, one of the pins 40, 4| engages the extremity of the lever II and causes the advancement of the ratchet wheel I5 by one tooth, in the same manner as has been described with reference to the pins 9, II) for starting the winding system. However, in this case, the extremity of the arm II, which rested in a recess in the cam disc I6, is lifted onto a projection by the movement of the said cam disc. Thus, in this case, the displacement of the arm I'I lowers the arm l8 to restore the brushes to the position shown in the Fig. l. The brush 23 is disengaged from the commutator 24 and the supply current to the motor is cut off.

However, owing to its inertia, the rotor 41 will continue rotating for a short time after the current is interrupted, which will allow the pin 4|] to disengage the extremity of the lever II so as not to interfere with the succeeding operation of starting the winding. This additional rotation of the rotor will also assist in cleaning the commutator 24, after interruption of the current, by the action of the brush 22 which is still in engagement with the commutator.

The succeeding winding operation will be effected under the action of the pin II] of the memher 5 and stopping will be effected by the action of the pin 4| oi the winding wheel 38.

The winding wheel 38 is integral with a collar 38' (shown in Fig. 2 but omitted from Fig. 4 for the sake of clearness) to which is connected one end of the spring 39 arranged in the barrel 1. The other end of the spring 39 is connected to the barrel 1 so that unwinding of the spring rotates the barrel to advance the pin 6.

The method of operation of the device is as follows:-

The spring 39 drives the barrel I whereby the pin 6 is advanced to rotate the member 5 and also the toothed wheel 8 which drives the clock mechanism. In this manner the member 5 rotates until either the pin 9 or II] engages with the starting and stopping lever I I. Continued movement of the pin moves the lever I I and the pawl I3 whereby the pawl engages with the next following tooth of the ratchet wheel I5. Shortly thereafter the pin 9 disengages from the end of the lever I I whereby the spring 2I returns this lever and the pawl I3 to their initial position thereby advancing the ratchet wheel forward by one tooth.

The movement of the ratchet wheel simultaneously advances the cam disc I6, and the end of the arm II of the double armed lever I I, I8 moves into a recess in the cam disc, thereby permitting the spring 46 to rotate the double armed lever II, I8 and move the brush 23 into engagement with the commutator to start the electric motor. Through the gear wheels 32 to 31 the winding wheel 38 is rotated to rewind the spring 39. In rotating the winding wheel 38, however, the pins 46, 4| are advanced and one of them (for example 40) also engages with the starting and stopping lever I I to move the pawl l3 over the next following tooth of the ratchet wheel I5. On continued movement of the pin 40 the lever is released whereby the ratchet Wheel is again advanced by one tooth. Simultaneously the cam disc I6 is advanced to move the lever arm I! on to a projection thereof whereby the brushes are moved away from the commutator to stop re winding the motor.

It is obvious that the member 5 may be given any desired form and may be provided with any number of pins for eifecting winding after a definite length of time, and the drive of the mechanism of the clock by a pin rigidly connected to the cylinder may be replaced by a toothed-wheel drive.

The usual clock mechanism is protected from the action of the magnet 29 of the electric motor by a magnetic screen 44.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been described and illustrated, it will be clearly understood that many modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art which fall within the invention as defined in and by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In an electric motor, a commutator, brushes of knife form cooperating with said commutator the knife edge only of said brushes being adapted to engage said commutator and means for imparting to at least one of said brushes a sliding movement across said commutator to move the knife edge of the same into and out of contact with said commutator.

2. In an electric motor, a commutator, brushes cooperating with said commutator and means for imparting to at least one of said brushes a sliding movement across the said commutator to move the same into and out of contact with said commutator, said brushes being spaced apartwhen one at least is out of contact with said commutator at a distance less than the diameter of the commutator.

3. In an electric motor, a commutator, a pair of brushes cooperating with said commutator, a brush holder to which said pair of brushes is anchored, and means for moving said brush holder bodily towards and away from from said commutator, said brushes being spaced apart when one at least is out of contact with said commutator at a distance less than the diameter of said commutator.

RAOUL FOUQUES. JACQUES LENFANT. 

